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Article SURPRISING ANECDOTE OF A BLIND MAN. Page 1 of 1
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Surprising Anecdote Of A Blind Man.
SURPRISING ANECDOTE OF A BLIND MAN .
[ From Baron POLNITZ . ]
FROM Augsburg I came to Ulm , another imperial city . Theugh all the country is level , yet it is very tiresome to travellers because ofthe pavement of the causeys ; but , thanks to'the snow which has levelled the roads , I have not been much incommoded , though on the other hand I was near being lost in the snow , such an amazing quantity of it having fallen for two days , that the roads could not be
distinguished . My guide , though grown grey in the business of a postillion on that road , did not know the way . I was in danger every moment of sinking into a ditch ; when , just as we entered ' a valley , my postillion sounded his horn , to give notice to any- carriages or horses that might happen to meet us to make way , when a voice from the hollow called out to the postillion , Who is that ? Stephen ? Oh , cried the postillion , Is it you , Christopher ? God be thanked that I have met you I
Then turning towards me , he said , with an air of satisfaction , Now , sirj you are out of all danger , for here is a blind man that will conduct us to the place we are going to . — I thought my postillion mad , but we had not advanced many yards before I perceived a poor old man stone ? blind , as I soon found , who offered to be my guide . I consented , and he walked so fast before the chaise that the horses followed him in a gentle trot till we came safe to the stage . There he told me , that
about fifteen years ago he lost his sight , by the breaking of an imposthume in his eyes , after suffering such horrible pains for two months that he blest himself for the loss of his sight . When I asked him if he was not veiy sorry for it , he said , that at first it made him melancholy for some time , but that he always comforted himself by the remembrance of the torment he had undergone in the loss of his sight ; and that he thought it was much better to be blind and to have his healthj
than to see and suffer the pains he had endured ; but that now he was so used to his condition it gave him no concern . When I asked him if he should not be g lad to recover his sig ht , lip said , Yes , if it . were possible ; but that if he must undergo the same pain to recover it as he had felt in the loss of it , he had rather a thousand times continue blind ; When I told him my surprise that he should find out the way better thaii those who have their sihthe told methat since he had been blind he
g , , came regularly on Sundays and saint ' s-days where he had met us to hear mass , and that , therefore , the road Was become familiar to him . He added , that he sometimes went alone to beg three or four leagues from Ids village , which was half a league from the hollow way where 1 met with him . After giving him some money to supply his wants I dis ? missed him ; and could not but admire the goodness of Divine
Provi-dence , which , though it had afflicted the poor wretch with what to me seems more terrible than death , gave him strength to bear his misfortune with patience , and to be of such great use to those in a happier .situation
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Surprising Anecdote Of A Blind Man.
SURPRISING ANECDOTE OF A BLIND MAN .
[ From Baron POLNITZ . ]
FROM Augsburg I came to Ulm , another imperial city . Theugh all the country is level , yet it is very tiresome to travellers because ofthe pavement of the causeys ; but , thanks to'the snow which has levelled the roads , I have not been much incommoded , though on the other hand I was near being lost in the snow , such an amazing quantity of it having fallen for two days , that the roads could not be
distinguished . My guide , though grown grey in the business of a postillion on that road , did not know the way . I was in danger every moment of sinking into a ditch ; when , just as we entered ' a valley , my postillion sounded his horn , to give notice to any- carriages or horses that might happen to meet us to make way , when a voice from the hollow called out to the postillion , Who is that ? Stephen ? Oh , cried the postillion , Is it you , Christopher ? God be thanked that I have met you I
Then turning towards me , he said , with an air of satisfaction , Now , sirj you are out of all danger , for here is a blind man that will conduct us to the place we are going to . — I thought my postillion mad , but we had not advanced many yards before I perceived a poor old man stone ? blind , as I soon found , who offered to be my guide . I consented , and he walked so fast before the chaise that the horses followed him in a gentle trot till we came safe to the stage . There he told me , that
about fifteen years ago he lost his sight , by the breaking of an imposthume in his eyes , after suffering such horrible pains for two months that he blest himself for the loss of his sight . When I asked him if he was not veiy sorry for it , he said , that at first it made him melancholy for some time , but that he always comforted himself by the remembrance of the torment he had undergone in the loss of his sight ; and that he thought it was much better to be blind and to have his healthj
than to see and suffer the pains he had endured ; but that now he was so used to his condition it gave him no concern . When I asked him if he should not be g lad to recover his sig ht , lip said , Yes , if it . were possible ; but that if he must undergo the same pain to recover it as he had felt in the loss of it , he had rather a thousand times continue blind ; When I told him my surprise that he should find out the way better thaii those who have their sihthe told methat since he had been blind he
g , , came regularly on Sundays and saint ' s-days where he had met us to hear mass , and that , therefore , the road Was become familiar to him . He added , that he sometimes went alone to beg three or four leagues from Ids village , which was half a league from the hollow way where 1 met with him . After giving him some money to supply his wants I dis ? missed him ; and could not but admire the goodness of Divine
Provi-dence , which , though it had afflicted the poor wretch with what to me seems more terrible than death , gave him strength to bear his misfortune with patience , and to be of such great use to those in a happier .situation